//------------------------------//
// Prologue 
// Story: Hunter, Slayer, Corpse 
// by Senyu 
//------------------------------//





The warm wind blew across the rock ledge with a gentle caress, wafting the scents of faraway places to the pony lying down. His ears were pricked upwards, idly moving about to hear the faint noises around him, while his nose wrinkled to discern the scents.

Inhaling deeply, he smelt what he assumed would be scent of a dusty desert. The scent of the earth, warm and cooked from the sun, along with the chalky smells of the baked rocks. Even without the few dandelion seeds that had been carried from the wind, he knew where todays breeze came from.

“Dodge Junction,” he muttered.

He always liked it when the wind came from the south, bringing with the warmth and scents of the frontier towns. On a good day, he even believed winds from the badlands themselves had been carried to his ledge, often holding unfamiliar scents that had nearly faded to nothingness from the miles they were carried over.

But even if today did not carried the rare breeze from the far south, the summer smells of the wide fields from Dodge Junction was good enough.  It was better than the cold winds from the north he believed.

He took another deep breath, letting himself enjoy the fading warmth of the southern breeze while it lasted. Summer was about to end, and he was intent on enjoying every day until the fall came, bringing an end to the warm weather in turn for the bleak winter.

Shortly the breezed past by, and he was left with the notably cooler and familiar smell of the Foal Mountains, his birth place and home for the last sixteen years. His town was at their base, holding only over a few dozen ponies; not even large enough to be placed on most maps. While some complained of their tiny town and expressed desires to moving to a larger one, he had no qualms with the surrounding wilds. He had spent nearly every day out and about exploring every inch of the land around him, delving into thick forests, and scaling the slopes of the Foal Mountains. It had been because of his explorative nature that he had found the ledge he was currently lying on, a spot that intersected the upper air streams from various parts of Equestria.

It was one of his favorite places, and one of the only ones his family could not get to when he did not want to be bothered. Being that the town consisted entirely of earth ponies, remaining alone on a faraway ledge was not a difficult thing. The only exception to the freedom however, was his unnaturally spry grandfather that could track him down no matter where he trekked to.

But so far the elder had not paid him a visit today. In fact, his grandfather had been scarce over the last few weeks, rarely attending evening meals with the rest of the family. While he normally was a distant pony to begin with, he had made it a point to visit what he always said was his favorite grandson.

His grandfather’s odd behavior made him furrow his brow in thought as to why the elder stallion had been acting different than usual. But like the rest of his family that for some inexplicable reason was not tolerant of his presence, he could find no understanding to his strange ways.

Unable to find an answer even in his best thinking spot, and feeling the rumble of hunger beginning to set in, he stood and began to make the climb back home. He had forgotten to bring a snack with him, and the two hour long trip back home down cliff-side and thick woods would mean he wouldn’t arrive until just before sundown.

Away from the safety of others, out in the wilderness as far as he could put himself into, and away from another pony for hours on end, it was another normal day for Azure Storm.